Last week, I had a meeting downtown and it was the perfect excuse to grab a bite to eat at Fresh restaurant. Whenever I’m in the city I try to pop in for a meal, even if that means eating an early dinner at 4pm and hitting rush hour traffic on the way home. It’s always worth it.
I started with a juice made up of grapefruit, beets, ginger, lemon, milk thistle, and cayenne. This might just be one of my favourite healthy juices and the bright pink colour gets me every time.
For an appetizer, I ordered the spring rolls stuffed with brown rice vermicelli, mushrooms, carrot, and cilantro served with a garlic dipping sauce. Not something I normally order, but I really enjoyed this!
Being in the spirit of the salad challenge, I ordered another new-to-me dish: the All Star Salad made up of quinoa and adzuki bean tabbouleh, raw shredded kale, goji berries, toasted nut and seed mix, sunflower sprouts, parsley, cilantro, grilled sweet potato, and tofu.
This picture really doesn’t do it justice, but let me just tell you I was kicking myself for not trying this sooner! It was the perfect balance of whole grains, protein, and healthy fats with a great crunchy texture thanks to the toasted nuts and seeds. I didn’t leave a bite behind.
The problem with many dishes at Fresh is that they can be tricky to recreate at home. Most of their dishes contain all kinds of toppings, sauces, grains, and multiple proteins which is why they taste so great, but they can be lengthy to prepare. If you don’t feel like preparing the entire salad, I suggest simply making the tabbouleh. It makes about 5-6 cups worth and is a lovely addition to any lunch!
I started with a bed of 1 cup shredded lacinato kale. By “shredded”,I just mean that I finely chopped it on a cutting board, after removing the thick stems at the bottom of each leaf. For those of you who still aren’t crazy about kale, I highly recommend trying lacinato kale. It’s much milder than curly kale and also has a nice smooth texture.
Next, I made tabbouleh with a twist. It’s filled with red quinoa, adzuki beans (I really need to make these more often!), parsley, cilantro, green onion, and tomato. I knew with the right dressing, this was going to be a new favourite tabbouleh.
For the dressing, I decided on a red wine vinegar, olive oil, and garlic dressing instead of the typical lemon dressing that we often see in tabbouleh recipes. It has just the right amount of bite from the vinegar, while still being quite mellow.
I poured the dressing on the Tabbouleh and mixed it all up. Then, I added sea salt and pepper to taste and added another tablespoon of red wine vinegar to make it pop a bit more. It turned out incredible and I could barely keep myself from shoveling it all in right then and there.
I added about a cup and a half of the Tabbouleh on top of the shredded kale:
Followed by a sprinkle of goji berries, pepita and hemp seeds:
And finally, pea sprouts and baked sweet potato rounds.
All of these toppings are completely optional, depending on your preference and you can certainly enjoy the Tabbouleh on it’s own as I mentioned. Thanks to the beans and complete-protein quinoa, I found it very satisfying. In an effort to save time, I didn’t add any tofu, but feel free to add some if you wish.
Adzuki Bean and Quinoa Tabbouleh Salad with a Twist
Yield
6 cups tabbouleh
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Inspired by Fresh Restaurant’s All Star Salad.
Ingredients
For the tabbouleh
- 1/2 cup dry adzuki beans (or use 1.5 cups cooked beans)*
- 3/4 cup uncooked quinoa (makes 2.5 cups cooked)
- 1 cup packed fresh parsley, thick stems removed and minced
- 1/2 cup packed fresh Cilantro, thick stems removed and minced
- 2 small tomatoes, chopped (makes 1 & 1/4 cups)
- 3 large green onions, chopped
- Herbamare or fine grain sea salt & black pepper, to taste
For the dressing
- 1/3 cup + (1 tbsp, optional) red wine vinegar
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- Herbamare/fine grain sea salt & ground pepper, to taste
- 1 tbsp nutritional yeast (optional)
Directions
- Adzuki beans: Soak the dry beans overnight in water OR use the quick soak method like I did: Place beans in a pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and then turn off the heat and let it sit for 1-2 hours. After soaking, drain and rinse the beans and then place back into the pot with new water, covering the beans with water by about 2-3 inches. Bring water to a boil and then reduce heat to low-medium, simmering for about 35-45 minutes. Watch closely and add more water if necessary. Alternatively, you can use canned beans for a time-saver.
- Sweet potato: Meanwhile, preheat oven to 425F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Slice a sweet potato into 1cm rounds. Lay flat on baking sheet at bake for about 15 minutes each side, watching closely so it doesn’t burn.
- Quinoa: Add 3/4 cup of dry quinoa and about 1 & 1/4 cups water in a medium-sized pot. Stir. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to low and cover with lid, simmering for about 15-20 minutes and watching closely. Quinoa will be light and fluffy when ready and the water will be absorbed.
- Dressing: Whisk together all dressing ingredients and season to taste. Or feel free to use a mini processor if you have one.
- Tabbouleh: Combine the drained & cooked beans, quinoa, and chopped vegetables in a large bowl. Pour on the entire amount of dressing and stir well. Season to taste. Makes about 5.5-6 cups and should keep for at least a few days in the fridge.
- To assemble the salad: Add 1 cup shredded kale onto a plate or large bowl. Spoon on 1.5 cups of tabbouleh on top. Garnish with goji berries, pepita and hemp seeds, and a handful of sprouts (all optional). Finally, add the grilled or baked sweet potato rounds on the side.
Nutrition Information
(click to expand)~~~~
I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!
Nommm! Looks real nice! I’ve never used Adzuki beans, and this is an interesting way. Coming from the middle east, I don’t veer much from the traditional tabbouleh recipes. Thanks for helping me think outside of the box :D
delightful!!!
Beautiful juice! I’m loving my juicing challenge this summer. Will definitely have to try that combo! Love the idea of quinoa tabbouleh!
Kinda off topic but thanks for posting the pic of Toronto! I grew up there and have been living in Atlanta since ’96…makes me miss home! BTW…love your blog!
no prob, glad you liked it!
I just got home from Fresh having ordered that salad!! Can’t wait to try at home.
Everything about that dish looks delish. How may I ask did you get the sweet potato to pucker in flower-like. Lovely food styling! I can’t wait to try!
I didnt do anything to it but roast it…not sure why it did that? Maybe because I left the skin on and overbaked it a bit?
Yours looks so much better than theirs! You should be proud :)
This looks lovely! I just bought some sweet potatoes and I like the idea of serving them on the side as you have. My favorite way to eat them is as dessert with earth balance and brown sugar :) and vegan marshmallows :)
Yum, I love the idea of the sweet potato rounds as a side…what a fun dish!
This salad is beautiful, and I will be roasting sweet potato rounds today for sure. In fact, I can’t wait to show my mother the sweet potatoes. She eats SP nearly every day and will love this simple variation.
Thanks for sharing. As so many others have pointed out, your photos are lovely!
thank you Tammi!
I’m not vegan *at all*, and I want to eat this meal every.single.day. Drooool…plus, how in the world did you get your sweet potatoes to look like flowers?!? Did I miss something?!?
ANgela, this looks fantastic!! I just learned to love quinoa and I can’t get enough of it!! Thanks for a great recipe!!
LOVELY Salad!!
Your pictures are a-ma-zing! I bake sweet potato often, I like to brush it with mix of bbq sauce and olive oil before baking. Angela, how you get this flower shape for your potatoes? Did you carve it before slicing and baking? They look awsome! Also, that mixed beet juice color just knocking out.. I would drink it just because of color. At some time I was experimenting with fresh juices and learned that beet juice is very powerful but should never be consumed alone – it should always go with other juices. I like to combine it with a grapefruit juice!
haha nope it just did that in the oven! Weird eh?
Wow,,,,that photo of your salad is truly a piece of art,,,beautuful texture and colour. I don’t do many grains anymore, but I’m looking forward to this one!
Over the weekend I made the potato & asparagus salad I saw here a couple of days ago…delicious!! It was even good cold, but I really did enjoy it warm. This Adzuki Bean & Quinoa Tabbouleh Salad looks so pretty & I bet it tastes even better. I can’t wait to make this! Ange, my neighbors love me on Sunday evenings when I share all of your goodness with them : )
adzuki beans are GREAT in sweet preparations, too. Have you tried?
no I havent! Do tell :)
yes, DO tell!!
see above!
Hey Angela,
This comment is really more appropriate for a smoothie post, but I didn’t know if you’d see it that quickly. I mentioned one of your green monster recipes in a post on my blog this morning, and I added a link to you.
I just wanted to say thanks for all the excellent recipes, and have a great day!
Yes I just saw that, thank you so much for the shout out!
That is absolutely beautiful and I don’t blame you for being smitten with the juice – that color is unreal! Like, one of those you can’t even believe nature created all by herself!
Hi Angela,
Your salad looks great and I looove Fresh, I always drop an when I am in the city!
I live outside of Toronto too, Markham, and I was wondering which grocery store you find this lacinato kind of kale for salads, rather than the curly kind that isn’t generally used for salads? Can’t find it anywhere like Loblaws, Longos, etc, so thought I might get some ideas from where you find it?
Thank you!
I buy it at Organic garage, Fortinos, and Whole Foods. Did you hear Markham is getting a whole foods??? :)
Ahhh no I didn’t, that’s fantastic! I just looked it up when I read this comment and I am really excited! It’s like a little Too close by actually haha, thanks for the good news and the tips :)
im so excited for you! My sis told me about it- she almost had a heart attack when she drove by one day and saw the sign. ;)
this looks amazing…
i would also love to make that beet drink…i’ll try to make one…this is all new to me and lots of fun…i want to eat it all now… :)
Oh my goodness this sounds so good!!! I’ve had a can of adzuki beans sitting in my cupboard waiting to be used up. Perfect recipe to use them up :)
I made this for dinner tonight and it was DELISH! So filling too. I put some maple syrup on the sweet potatoes for the last few minutes in the oven which was really yummy.
So glad you enjoyed it Martha! Maple syrup is a great idea, I will have to try that.
This is one of my fav all-time salads.. mostly because it doesn’t feel like you’re eating a salad, it’s so filling! I made this salad at home for about a month straight after Fresh introduced it..
And wouldn’t you believe, one year later and right after you post it on your blog, they put their recipe in their newsletter! Now, whose to try…
really? haha that’s funny. I need to get on their newsletter stat. I didn’t know they even had one!
I’m sure you’ve already seen it, but in case you don’t subscribe to the Fresh Restaurant Newsletters (sent by email)… this month’s issue (June, sent out last night), features the recipe for the All Star Salad… hmm, makes me wonder if Fresh got word of your recreation and wanted to set the recipe record straight? Anyway, your version is spot on!
If you don’t get the newsletter, I can forward it to you, if you’d like.
Wow, this looks amazing! I love kale and quinoa and I’ve been wanting to try adzuki beans so this would be perfect. BTW, yours looks WAY better than the original! :)
I made this twice already this week. LOVE. I used kidney beans, though, because I am lazy. Tonight, I threw it in a salad with spinach, extra tomatoes, kalamata olives and a teeny bit of honey mustard. Holy delicious! My husband loves it too.
BTW I have been vegetarian for sixish months (not vegan, though, I am not that hardcore) and your website has been a Godsend. Good veg dishes make meat seem so bland in comparison! And yours are amazing. Thank you!
Thank you Rebecca, that is so great to hear! Congrats on being veg for 6 months :)
I love your creative spin on tabbouleh. Not sure why I have never tried to make it at home!
I made this for dinner tonight. It was amazing! All your recipes have really showed me the amazing variety of yummy and interesting foods I can eat on a whole foods diet. Appreciate it!
Thank you Yvonne, I’m so glad to hear that!
I love this recipe! What a tasty way to get lots of fiber, protein, vitamins and minerals. I’m going to share the link with my followers and friends. Recipes like this make it easier to get people to eat amazing leafy greens, high-powered adzuki beans, and whole grains. Thanks so much for sharing. :)
Just made this today and it is SO good. Very refreshing for the summer! I forgot to make those sweet potatoes, but the salad is good alone.
I’ll be making this again!
Gorgeous! I love tabbouleh and tuscan kale is the greatest salad green ever!
Hi Angela – I am going to make this tonight, my husband is allergic to sweet potato…any recomendations to substitute for the sweet potato rounds? Thanks
I made this salad for a party and it was beautiful! The only thing I noticed is that after being refrigerated the dressing seemed to disappear into the salad and not leave much flavor which was a pity because it was so yummy when I first put it on. Next time I might make extra to drizzle on before serving.
Yummy, I just made this and it is delicious and fast! I had all the ingredients already on hand! Thanks for the great recipe! :)
Delicious! I can’t wait to compare it to Fresh!
I added a huge scoop of roasted red pepper hummus to the top of the salad.
This is a dumb question, but is there a good substitution for the red wine vinegar in the dressing? Perhaps a different vinegar?
Yes im sure other vinegars would work too! I would add it slowly and not all at once, just in case it’s over powering.
Angela I made this salad tonight for my hubby and BFF and we all enjoyed it so much! I have to say there was extra kale leftover on my mans plate…but he devoured the remaining tabouleh!
I was raised in a healthy eating family and after some years of neglect and quite bad health for myself and my husband I am returning much in part thanks to your site and Ari at The Diva Dish. So for me it’s a happy return and for my hubby it’s quite an adventure.
Thank you so very much for your amazing recipes, blogs, they are so inspiring and have prompted me into such a better way of lifestyle!
Every day when I step into the kitchen I am excited to explore something new and every day I feel stronger and healthier as a result!
Hey Carmen, Thank you for your lovely comment! That means so much to me.
looks great, and i plan on making this for a dinner party this weekend. how many people does this recipe serve? thank you
Hi Terry, It makes 5.5-6 cups. Hope this helps!
okay, the dinner party is for 14-16 people but there will be lots of other people, so i think i will double it and it should be fine? i really like your blog, just found it today when searching for recipes using goji berries
Thank you for this delicious recipe! My boyfriend and I loved it so much! The dressing sealed it… Great flavor! I’m sure I’ll be making this frequently in the future. The sweet potato rounds went really nicely with it, too!
This is absolutely delicious! Just made a batch for my lunch this week and I’m so excited! Perfect summer dish. Thank you!
wow!!! This is just FANTASTIC!!!
This recipe was delicious! I didn’t have quinoa on hand so I used buckwheat as a substitute and used a three-bean medley for my beans. It turned out amazing! This is definitely a recipe I will make over and over again in the future.
I just made this for lunch and I enjoyed it. My husband thought it was okay. It was far too oily so I would use half the oil next time. I also added more vinegar. I really enjoyed it but it still didn’t have as much flavor as some of your other salads. I really like the sweet potato rounds idea!
Darn! I live in a small desert community where there are no stores. I took the recipe with me yesterday when I went to Palm Desert and bought everything I needed there. But because kale is not actually on the list, I didn’t realize I needed it.
My husband just drove to our little market. No kale of course. No chard either.
I guess I will shred Romaine unless anyone has a better idea.
I am making this for a vegan dinner party.
Hi,
Thank you for this lovely recipe !
I live in the south of France where I can find nice organic spinach leaves.
That could maybe replace the Kale.
:)
Angela – Thanks for this fabulous recipe! What a perfect combo – adzuki and sweet potato! Sweet potatoes are in season and with the cooler damper climate around here, adzuki beans are great for ridding the body of extra bloat ;-) I’m going to try making a colder weather version by lightly stir frying the veggies, tossing in the warm quinoa and beans, and topping with fresh cilantro and parsley.
Hey! Have you considered introducing a pressure cooker into your repertoire? I pressure cook the adzuki beans, and it takes *way* less time. They don’t even have to be soaked!
Hi There
Does anyone have the nutritional info on this salad
I love the addition of the roasted squash in the photos of your posted salad. The shapes are lovely and enhance the visual. I made a similar Aduki Bean salad from a recipe by Amy Chaplin. It called for pickled cucumbers which added a joie de vivre to the Aduki Bean Salad and were easy to make. Click on my name for a link to my site, to see photos and the recipe.